Final Fantasy VIII - Eyes On Me | Reacting To Video Game Music!

[@JessesAuditorium]

Song mentioned in this video; Bread - Make It With You kzbin.info/www/bejne/gWW1amauo7CcpM0

[@phoenix221186]

If I remenber correctly this was the first soundtrack in. Final fantasy history as in a full song ...

[@oscargaines8546]

She is (Chinese王菲) Feye Wang！Her daughter Leah dou is a singer too.

[@pwkn86]

If you liked this song i HIGHLY recomend the orchestrated version in the ending theme, its my favorite.

[@omega_redxiii_4213]

This song won a best song of the year award in Japan when it came out and was played on the radio. It was sung by Faye Wong a singer out of Hong Kong

[@RG-df2lr]

Disney really does inspire a lot of stuff.. Nothing wrong with that. Disney has had a lot of years and many talented song writers but this with a few others from this game give me so much Disney vibes it's crazy. I love Disney and I love ff8. Truly amazing.

[@samanimeguy23]

The Orchestra version is beautiful also...love Faye Wong's sweet voice also ..

[@Shicaacaa1]

It’s such an incredibly beautiful song

[@JustinThrockmorton-es7ft]

@Jessesauditorium i have the game this song is from so there is a actual reason for it

[@silversflow4469]

She’s born in Beijing lol ICANT

[@AHylianWarrior]

Fun fact: Faye Wong sung this in ONE take in complete darkness. Uematsu organised an orchestra to play it and sent the recording to her. He called her voice "truly heavenly". The song along sold 400k copies and won "song of the year (western music)" in Japan's Annual Gold Disc Award in 1999 and was the FIRST video game song to win that honour.

[@miguelcampillo8279]

Beautiful song!! It made me cry in FVIII!! These games... were other times.

[@ImpeccableZentertainment]

This song is so important to the story i cannot wait for you to live it

[@michaelcollins8992]

Yea I love ff8 more then 7 because the complexity to it. The story between squall and rinoa how their love was destined because their parents never to got to have that love for one another is just one of those magical plots in any game tbh

[@Nexdex]

FFVIII was the first FF to have a vocal theme song, which would become a staple for the series from here on. Also the first FF to have orchestral music (for the opening and ending). Eyes on Me was performed by Faye Wong

[@tarultoyarto]

Normal people: "So what's your favorite genre of music?" People who grew up on Uematsu: "What's a genre?"

[@kisaragireion]

My old answer is: video game soundtracks

[@Antis14CZ]

All the upvotes!

[@dominicmorales6800]

My answer: Nobuo Uematsu.

[@warden8508]

VGM all the way.

[@yadiracamacho499]

"I'm more than a dress and a voice" that part always makes me so sad, knowing the story behind the song.

[@branko2166]

The convergence of Squall and Rinoa's story and the emergence of their love after their parents were unable to fulfil theirs was so cathartic. Their parents love lives on in them as if by fate.

[@derrickowen8162]

@@branko2166 spoilerific comment

[@MsSharondenadel]

Laguna taking care of the daughter he never had.

[@RNCHFND]

​@@derrickowen8162 I mean, it's been more than 2 decades

[@umadbro4493]

whaaaaaaaaaaat i was reading this comment and the song said the line immediately after

[@sildrex]

FF8 is peak Uematsu for me. He's trying so many things in this game and he just keeps nailing it all.

[@ericforsyth]

I always liked the soundtrack, even though it was one of the last FF's I played. The game itself has a lot of charm, but suffers from a lot of issues as well, landing it in the bottom half of FF games for me. The music is still amongst the best in the series, on the whole, though. Faye Wong walked so Hikaru Utada could run.

[@rogerdodger1984]

@ericforsyth blasphemy. 8 is a top 5, easy. Literally ANY FF game can have nitpicky problems, but Im sick of hearing about the draw system as if it ruined the game. Thr story alone is ten times better than ANY FF that came after with the exception of 10.

[@QDPenguin]

FF8 has many likes and dislikes. But it is my favourite too! It's so dream-like, very true to a Fantasy.

[@Jadeykins83]

Omg...the moment the singing started.....the tears came flooding! I love this song so much, and this game!

[@peggieschafer485]

SAME, I'm at work and having an awful time keeping it together 😭

[@Leongon]

The song is about the singer performing at a small bar and noticing a recurrent patron shyly eyeing her every night and always paying close attention to her performance. She gets attached to him and starts worrying about approaching her last performance in the place, she wonders how it will feel from his perspective, and wondering if he'll follow her to the next location. She wants to tell him that she's noticed he's interested in her and that she's interested on him. She has seen he's troubled but conceals his pain and wants to comfort him.

[@esunagraye6706]

Singer is Faye Wong. Very popular Chinese artist. Was the first Chinese artist featured in a Japanese video game I believe. Kinda funny considering the song is in English. Anyway, thank you for the reaction and I hope you enjoy my favorite Final Fantasy. :3

[@consumablecorner150]

Reminds me of the American meal: English Muffin, Canadian bacon, Swedish pancakes, Belgium waffles, French toast, and German sausage.

[@ilakya]

Hong Kong was returned from being a British colony to main land China in 1997. FFVIII released in 1999. That's just 2 years apart.

[@silversflow4469]

@@consensus889 HK has nothing relevant in the comments here. It’s only Uematsu’s choice

[@TrixterBambi]

Kinda late to the party but FF8 uses Eyes on Me as a motif for several other tracks in the game like "Waltz for the Moon" and "Julia", which is also the name of the character who wrote the song in-universe.

[@SylarGKIW]

Every time i hear "Eyes On Me", it brings tears in my eyes. I dunno how it's for others people, but for me, this music is so nostalgic, and calming. And i dunno why tears appeared in my eyes, i guess it's just it.

[@KyleMcCullough88]

I actually seen Faye Wong and heard her sing this song in person. Alot of artists sound so different in recording then they do live. Not Faye, she sounded identical. She is a beautiful singer.

[@8-bitromance43]

I am so jealous! As far as I am aware she is all but retired now, I hope I will get lucky enough to catch her perform just once in my lifetime!

[@Skellotronix]

She is a siren 😭

[@KyleMcCullough88]

@@8-bitromance43 yeah, guess my age shows in that one. 🤣

[@8-bitromance43]

​@@KyleMcCullough88 Oh you've just made me think back to what/when my first big concert was. 2006, Slayer and Lamb of God. I was only 12 years old aha. Friend's dad drove a bunch of us up to it and was in the thick of it all with us. Wouldn't be my cup of tea anymore but very fond memories nonetheless :D

[@victorygreen]

Would have loved to have heard Faye sing this live.

[@Caramaram]

I really love this song. It brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it - a stirring story of missed love that resonates with me.

[@michaelcollins8992]

More like how love transcends time and destiny, and fate that Laguna and Julia didn’t end up together but their children do is so amazing tbh

[@J2ojuiced95]

The first FF main vocal theme, Square went all out back then and hired a famous Chinese singer to perform this song. FF8’s gameplay is pretty polarising, but pretty much everyone agrees that the music is amazing.

[@erpeto15]

One winged angel

[@FF8Irvine_Fan]

@@erpeto15 Overrated

[@Deadfistx12]

Imagine being Jesse and hearing this stuff without context you are a lucky person my guy all these songs meanings are going to shift so hard and I'm excited to see you react in real time

[@alejandrotti10]

Does this game have flaws? Yes. Do I hate it? No. Would I still love it if things turned out different? Maybe yes, maybe no. This can be said about every single game on existence, but with FFVIII, it feels special.

[@colpugno7]

I kind of liked it your way how you shyly placed those words in here

[@BlakeAustin2011]

I can’t stand the story implementation. It had a great idea, but man it failed the landing. That said, I played Waltz to the Moon d as a postlude to a wedding, along with Eyes On Me. Solid soundtrack…

[@alejandrotti10]

@@BlakeAustin2011 You sir just confirmed my desires to actually play that on my wedding. Many thanks

[@volourn9764]

Whats funny is the public hate FF8 gets yet by all accounts it was a huge success. Sold a lot of copies, got great and high reviews by both reviews and fans, and had a lot of influence on future games both in and out of the series. See Triple TRiad as an example. FF8 = BEST RPG EVAR.

[@FF8Irvine_Fan]

@@volourn9764 Not only did it sell REALLY well, it had WAY more competition than 7 did. No matter how you slice it, 8 was WAY more successful than 7, yet it gets no credit for that.

[@Grimoireweisee]

A song composed by Japanese, sang by Chinese with English lyrics...masterpiece.

[@killerjoke2945]

We just need a Russian to remake it and a pianist from Israel and we'll get world peace.

[@jasonbales6536]

The first time I heard this song I realized that there is absolutely no style outside of Nobuo Uematsu’s grasp.

[@kayerraga]

Faye Wong is the Queen of Pop in the Chinese music industry. Although she does not release anymore albums, she is still extremely popular. She is the first Chinese Singer to be on the cover of the Time Magazine. She was also voted one of the coolest woman in the world by GQ British. Guinness record holder of the biggest selling video game song and the best selling artist of canto pop music.

[@yanyanshan]

Well said well said 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@madnimrod2489]

FFVIII will forever be my favorite Final Fantasy game, and the music plays a big part in that.

[@JessesAuditorium]

Look out for a FFVIII themed video later this week!

[@DmnHd81]

this song is for a specific scene in the game, and the lyrics tells a story from the pov of a bar singer. after this song's debut subsequent Final Fantasy games has a vocalized music as their theme, my favourite being Suteki Da Ne from FFX.

[@xenomemphate]

Might be a controversial opinion, I really like 1000 Words from X-2

[@tacitidesong]

I still can't believe this game's over 20 years old. It shaped so much of what I consider to be a great JRPG and a great video game story/soundtrack. This song takes me right back to that scene in the Ragnarok after suffering my way through the damn propagators.

[@Nigel222]

Its nice that they brought back this vibe in FF7 Rebirth with the song in the new trailer.

[@andreweaton6363]

Its such a breath of fresh air seeing a passionate musician react with relevant comments rather than the usual " this is fire"❤

[@ItzCasp3r]

I used the instrumental of the song in my wedding, that how much this song impact me as I grew up playing FF8 for like the 100th time.

[@valence686]

The more you get into Uematsu, the more it's gonna be wild man. It's a rabbit hole and you cannot win when it comes to never be surprised anymore. Also yeah, FF8 had an insane progression on the sheer budget they brought for it, you can feel it on some of the songs like this one that were actually recorded, and cutscene cinematics that were jaw dropping back then, and some of them being small movies in themselves. The production value ramped up with this game (I hope you play the remaster, it's the same but with really reworked, improved higher quality textures, really rejuvenating)

[@fernandomalpica1870]

This song along Liberi Fatali are the templates that cemented FFVIII as my favorite over FFVII, as I'm sure did for many other fans.

[@pseudopulk3478]

Faye Wong has such an incredibly beautiful voice and you also fall in love with her in Chungking Express, not only because she sings "Dreams" by the Cranberries on the soundtrack

[@Tanzu_87]

This is actually my all time favorite FF song ever as this is my first one from the series I played. In the game. This song was written by Julia to Laguna who went missing in action. For reasons they never got each other and they both ended up marrying different persons. In The game Julia was a singstress in certain bar while Laguna was a soldier who was a regular.

[@zackabean]

this is my fav FF (think my profile pic gives that away lol) the cast of characters were all just so cool to me back when i was a kid! Obviously looking back I realize the short comings that this game had, being the follow up to one of the most beloved games of all time is not an easy task lol

[@bigtatsu]

Hear, hear. Squall is my favorite protagonist in the entire franchise. I grew up just like Squall did...that's why I can empathize with his plight.

[@The_TylrG]

One of the best Karaoke songs from any FF.

[@claudiuskeat8336]

Still one of the most beautiful video game soundtracks ever

[@GallianMilitia]

Your reading of the music continues to be on point. This plays both at the very end of the game(just before the end credits), and during a major emotional point in the later part as well.

[@QDPenguin]

being a Celine Dion ballad fan (?), this song came via a Godsent algorithm on youtube FF8 MV in 2014, or perhaps because I used to play FF as well. The trailer was so intriguing and the song is so dream like. It has 304 play count on my iTunes now, and I have played FF8 more than 6 times.

[@jeffanderson3424]

At the beginning of the video you were looking for a le motief and this songs got the foundation for the whole sound track. This shows up in a few tracks especially when anything romantic is going on.

[@amitshemer6629]

the year 2000 - me putting my ffviii ps1 disc 4 in my walkman on the bus back from middle school. feels hitting as i just finished my first run LEGEND

[@oAPXo]

"With that look on your face" WATERWORKS. This song just makes me sad all the time because it's used in certain parts of the game.

[@nadriel2]

Ooof! Not heard this in years, but suddenly all the feels are back!

[@temporalwolf7054]

So, as I'm sure you probably guessed, this is one of THE big songs of the game. And it's such an interesting piece both in the context of where it plays, and the fact that it actually has lore that isn't immediately apparent in game. This is one of those times that I'm sitting here biting my tongue as I type, but you better believe once I see you get past the moment, a new comment will pop up here to explain what I want to talk about.

[@omensoffate]

Why would you bite your tongue when you are typing

[@temporalwolf7054]

...It's a turn of phrase. I was holding myself back from talking about the context of where the song plays because Jesse said he wants to play the game, so I'm avoiding spoilers. Hence, biting my tongue.

[@tsutsuichiharu]

This song is so prominent in FF8 that its almost its own character.

[@morteaux3662]

Guys, he is going to play that game (today), stop spoiling in the comment, geez.... Everyone's excited (if you are here) but keep it for now :D

[@EnigmaTimGaming]

I always loved this song. This was the game that made me fall in love with the Final Fantasy series. I love me a good ballad too. A suggestion, that I will be stunned if it has been mentioned. One of my favourite songs from the franchise. Same composer, Nobuo Uematsu: 'Choosing Hope' from the FFXV Comrades DLC, sung by Emiko Suzuki. The music serves as a refrain throughout the Comrades DLC (which you can put a LOT of hours into) then at the finale the vocal version comes in and frankly the performance is amazing, extremely good vocals. There is a note in particular that tickles the goosebumps. The song as a whole has an almost gospel feel.

[@khileshmistry4327]

This was the first final fantasy game I ever played. It was so awesome can't wait for your play through

[@diamondrust4719]

Also there is a Distant Worlds orchestral version of this that is somewhat different, but equally beautiful.

[@ReapTheWhirlwind]

I hope your playthrough was fun. Eyes On Me is so important to the story and when you hear it for the final time, during the credits, it's kinda hard not to tear up. Sometimes I need to cry and this is song can get me there! Later on in life I found it's complement in Dreamcatcher's Jazz Bar, which is more playful and sexy.

[@bigtatsu]

This song makes me emotional every time I listen to it.

[@rantingrodent416]

This song made me a huge fan of Faye Wong. At one point I probably had half of her discography in my regular rotation.

[@nssns-u8f]

There is a saying in China that there are two kinds of singers in China, one is Faye Wong and the other is other singers😂 To this day, still

[@XMAXEL]

OMG I can't believe that I've missed this! This is one of my favorite FF songs ever!

[@kyril98741]

After knowing the story, this song never fail to made me cry.

[@debrucey]

1:28 when you're a metalhead who's been tricked into enjoying a cheesy pop ballad 🤣

[@cn2490]

I can't say for before FF7 but from FF7 onward Final Fantasy was famous for heark break love story so there was always at least one romantic balad for the couples. Proud to say that I got into FF mainly for the love story and music, back in my teenage years. : ) Lots of fans of FF for the story and characters rather than the rpg gameplay for sure.

[@riusu8672]

here we go lol grown ass man "me" in tears lol once again listening to this having played and knows why this song touches :) you should come back lol to this after you played lol :D

[@ayakotami3318]

It makes me cry each time. I went to see Distabt Workds in Austin, Tx fairly recently and they didn't play it. You think given that this song won an award and sold 400k copies they would play it. This was the FIRST video game song that won Japan's Annual Gold Disc Award. It still stumps me they didn't play such a big part of VIII. It played first on the Ragnarok during the cutscene with Squall and Rinoa and then at the ending of the game.

[@haihuynh8337]

Now, it's the pure beauty of music!

[@sammyhuang]

Bring back memories of my younger years everytime i heard this song. Most romactic final fantasy series

[@sliphstream4927]

There's actually a part in the game where you put on a concert and you can hear each element of the song being individually played. Very cool

[@SgtDahaka]

FVIII was my first final fantasy and this song as bring me to tears. Spoilers: . . . Especially when Rinoa does that certain action at space =(

[@billy8649]

So many memories…. I miss the good old days playing FF8 with my best Friends…… Everything was much happier and simpler back then……. Growing up is shit…..

[@cattunger]

I highly recommend you listen to the acoustic version of this.

[@miguelcampillo8279]

Beautiful song!! It made me cry in FVIII!! These games... were other times

[@diamondrust4719]

Songs like this make me wonder if Uematsu maybe missed his calling to ghost write love songs. Not my kind of sound and yet I love it.

[@KresusFIN]

1:26 - Our boy realizes it's a love song

[@budakbaongsiah]

6:32 that's just Uematsu's Final Fantasies in general. 11 was the first one that kinda made the music similar to each other, and 12 was full orchestra with no other genre in it except for one song that Uematsu made. 8:01 it even sounds even more Disney-like in the Distant Worlds version

[@Crocogator]

Ugh. My leg is cramping.

[@dasilva2095]

That one was good 😂

[@colpugno7]

Whatever...

[@FloraAnneFauna]

never played FFVIII but I've always really loved this song

[@viviennerosier8162]

Thanks now I'm crying in a grocery store

[@MsSharondenadel]

I was a teenager when that game was made, that song blew my young impressive mind, especially with the tragic story behind it.

[@_Nephaelim]

The classical version that plays at the wnding is very lovely. There's also a piano version that is so soothing. Also, various version of the song play during the game like "Julia" and "Love Grows". You should check them all out... dood!

[@_Nephaelim]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, the first time Rinoa and Squall meet, it's at the ball, and the song they dance to is called "Waltz for the Moon" and it's also a variation of Eyes on Me... dood!

[@Mr360LP]

This song was made for Faye Wong.

[@davidbrooks2872]

Hits different after i played the game.

[@Cosmicstarboy]

I listen to this song everyday.

[@DaniPooo]

The melody of this song is used as a theme in many songs of this game, so when you finally hear this song accompanied by the actual scene in the game it has quite an impact. Also I think the melody was inspired by Relm's Theme from Final Fantasy VI, there's a lot of similarities there.

[@Amante-s9z]

For me, this song is one of the best RPG song theme along with FF IX "Melodies of Life" and Xenogear "Two Wings".

[@tubey84]

If there's one person I wish I could meet and shake their hand, it's Nobuo Uematsu. An astonishing talent.

[@lingth]

i wept when i heard it in game, the story is so sad, the singer is a performer in a bar, she performed for a guy who later was drafted into the army and went to war, which is why it was the last time the girl saw him, and she heard that he died in the war, and was heart broken and was comforted by another soldier who is a general, and married him. but later the guy came back from the war alive. its really a sad story.

[@virgilherring581]

Since you mentioned not really listening to the actual lyrics, the PoV of the song is a lounge singer describing falling in love with a man who comes to listen to her sing every night.

[@IKimdraculaI]

BY THE WAY, Celine Dion has a song called Eyes on Me, but is not like this lol

[@JessesAuditorium]

well damn

[@espasmemuscular]

Yep it still makes me tear up, god damn

[@seekittycat]

I heard this and I'm like Nobuo you can't have possibly wrote this you can't have wrote for asian LEGEND Ms Wong and Dancing Mad too. But nope it's our boy 😂! What's a genre? When I first moved to North America I listened to this song on the 18 hour flight while staring at the moon over a cloudless dark sea.

[@NeoScopeLeo]

This song mean a lots to me 😿

[@NuevoExistence]

Oh my hod how i cried at the Ragnorak aftermath where this plays 😢FFVIII will always be my favorite FF game. It just is.

[@genesis-zh9km]

i remember playing ff8 years ago and this song made me ball so hard FAYE WONG U WILL ALWASY BE HER

[@bourbon6625]

my second favorite FF game after FFX

[@tamashii6670]

It's soo beautiful song, it's first that type of song in Final Fantasy series, I mean song with solo vocal, not with choir like "One-Winged Angel". Songs from FF VIII, IX and X are the best! I hope you will react to song "Melodies of Life" from FF IX in future. ;)

[@IanLai]

Faye Wong and the breathtaking voice of hers

[@heystobeatingmymochi78]

I love this song when I was playing the game. Got me hooked alright😊👍

[@garethrogue]

fuck, man, I gotta give this one a playthrough for the first time in like 22 years

[@thehustiX]

I hope you played ff8 now and know the context. Who the song sang, for which character it was meant, the first time the song playes during the game. I loved it.

[@JessesAuditorium]

I did, check my vid on the top 20 songs from FFVIII where I dive into it.

[@Mrinsecure]

There have been plenty of pop-inspired ballads in Final Fantasy games since VIII. Melodies of Life, Suteki Da Ne, 1000 Words... as far as I'm concerned, none of them even *touches* Eyes on Me. It's just that good, and the vocals are a big part of that.

[@christopherstanley9997]

laguna and julia's song, love this game!

[@lukedodson3441]

Stop spoiling mate

[@christopherstanley9997]

@@lukedodson3441 yeah cos 2 names with zero context is spoilers.....

[@kevinmunoz5410]

Glad to see this !!

[@Sekainoowaride]

It DOES IIRC only play One time. Very late into the game too

[@killerjoke2945]

It does sound like a Disney ballad at first, but after you played the game, the experience becomes different, specially for Laguna Loire's story.

[@geralt_di_rivia]

Just because FF8 is a love story, a must play.

[@UncleFlaynus]

God, I love the game.

[@kris.........]

Faye Wong Disney Princess fr 🥲

[@VaioStreams]

You felt that.

[@supernova7746]

Love this song!